Empire's Foundation

Travel

Traveling from point A to point B may be accomplished in any manner the players desire, as long at they are personally able to manage it, or arrange for it from 16th century technologies.

Ship travel is common, as is walking, riding, and traveling in caravans. When traveling through the world, every four hours there is rolled a chance for random encounters. The magnitude of this chance depends on how far from friendly territory the party is. The closer to civilization the party is, the smaller the chance of a hostile random encounter, though it is more likely to be humans or demi-humans, and of lower danger. Farther from civilization there is a higher chance of a hostile encounter.

Ship travel is essentially the same, though it uses a different formula. The chance for a random encounter depends on whether the ship is on an established shipping lane, in territorial waters, or in uncharted seas. A larger number of random encounters are weather-related phenomena (storms and the like).

While traveling by foot (or on horseback or by carriage), each character must consume four pounds of food per day. Ship travel is the same as resting unless the party is actively participating in the sailing of the ship. As such, “resting” party members need only eat 2 pounds of food per day.

Severe weather may cause incidental damage to exposed characters, and very severe weather may cause damage even to sheltering characters, depending on conditions. Additionally, long treks through the wilderness between visits to civilization may result in incidental damage. Primary factors for this damage calculation are a) time away from a town or city, b) weather conditions, and c) what kind of road is being traveled on. XP will be awarded for any “travel damage” sustained.

Travel Speed

Normally, upon first grade roads, or in hexes which are either predominantly cropland or mixed cropland and local vegetation, base movement is as follows:

Horse, 60 miles per day
Mule or donkey, 40 miles per day
Walking, 20 miles per day
Cart or lightly loaded wagon, 10 miles per day
heavily loaded wagon, 5 miles per day

The absence of roads reduces travel distance by 50% for steppelands or veldt. Mixed steppe and forest, or other open country of mixed grassland and forest, such as savanna, caatinga or open Russian woodland, reduces travel distance by 60%. Forest or taiga, or heavily deserted areas where much of the ground is soft or extraordinarily rocky and filled with wadis, reduces travel distance by 75%. Jungles and marshlands are impassable to carts or wagons, and force mounted persons to walk, and further reduce travel distance by 90%.

Elevation reduces travel distance by 10% per 400 foot change in elevation from one hex to the next. Thus, if the party were moving from a hex at sea level to one that was 1,200 feet above sea level, upon a road and walking, they’re travel distance would be reduced 30% to a total of 14 miles that day. It is presumed that the road climbs and falls, as well as switchbacks, when climbing or dropping in elevation. Going downhill makes no difference to distance travels for this reason and because descent – particularly with animals and heavy loads – often requires more rest and greater care for safe travel. Momentum can also be dangerous.

A second horse or mount drawn behind the first can improve travel distance by 33%. Two horses would thus allow 80 miles per day upon roads; a horse and a mule would allow 73 miles. Two mules would allow 53 miles.

When traveling, a party may move faster or slower than the base speed indicated. Moving faster means that there is an increased likelihood of being surprised by an encounter, and there will be no opportunity for a Ranger or Druid to gather foodstuffs. Moving slower means that there is an increased chance of detecting an encounter before engaging with it directly, and Rangers or Druids (with the requisite Sage ability) have increased opportunity to forage over that afforded by moderate travel speed.

Travel Days

A Navigation check is made at the end of each day of travel. Parties without a properly knowledgeable Ranger or Druid choose one member to make a Wisdom check at -4. Rangers or Druids make Wisdom checks modified by the terrain type being traveled through. Travel along roads or thoroughly populated areas do not require a check. Plains do not add a modifier. Mixed fields and forest areas impose a -2 penalty. Forested, hilly, or rocky terrain imposes a -4 penalty. Jungles, swamps, and deserts impose a -6 penalty.

Foraging

Travel Damage

Journeying into the wilderness takes a toll on one physically, especially if the journey is an extended one. As such, extended forays into the wild will result in HP damage to those on such treks. The calculation is a simple one, with a base damage being added for each day (0.1 for traveling and camping rough to 0.0 for not traveling and staying in a luxurious inn), modified by weather (x1 to x1.6), and the road condition (x0.8 to x1.4). Damage less than a whole number is ignored in terms of HP loss. The following day the base damage is then added to the damage which occurred on the previous day, and the calculation performed again. For long treks into the wilderness, setting up camp in one place for long periods of time has a beneficial effect on both the base damage and the road modifier.

Modifiers:

Overnight Conditions / Base Damage:

The base damage is decreased by 0.02 if no travel is undertaken, and a further 0.02 if a druid is in charge of the camp. The druid bonus is not applicable in town. For each week spend in a single lodging (be it in camp or an inn), the base damage is dropped by another 0.02, and this effect is cumulative.

Weather / Modifier:

Pleasant / 1.0
Unpleasant / 1.2
Severe / 1.4
Harsh / 1.6

Definition of what makes weather Unpleasant, Severe, or Harsh is intentionally left vague. Typically, extreme temperatures, high winds, or precipitation are what indicates whether the weather is unpleasant. Combine two of those and it will likely be severe; all three probably mean Harsh weather.

Route / Modifier

Highway / 0.8
Lane / 1.0
Trail / 1.2
None / 1.4

Time spent in cities with at least one inn are considered equivalent to Highway. If a camp is made and maintained, each week that the camp is maintained will improve the relative road condition by one step. Thus, if a camp made nearest a trail, after a week the travel damage modifier will be reduced to that of a Lane, or 1.0.

If the weather is decent and the roads tolerable, it would be several days before actual damage occurs, though if the weather turned nasty or the roads turned bad, it could be as little as 4 days before damage occurred. XP is awarded for travel damage sustained.